Don't worry
by AndMuchMore
Summary: Dipper and Mabel stride into the deep parts of the forest, but this has unforeseen consequences
1. Chapter 1

**Author's notes: My first fanfiction, written right before the Grand Finale. Based on an idea I had some time ago and a bit of an experiment, but hope you will enjoy it anyways.**

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"Look there, another pretty one!" Mabel yelled and ran to the flower to pick her up. Dipper just sighed while he walked behind her.

Mabel got suddenly the urge to make wreaths of flowers, and of course she drafted her brother into that. He wasn't very excited about that, but it isn't like he would let his sister go alone in the forest. And he had nothing else to do anyway. So he could at least try to have some fun for his sister's sake. For this trip she decided to wear a white sweater with a little lamb on it.

At least he could avoid some drudgery in the Mystery Shack, that always happened when grunkle Stan thought Dipper had too much free time. At least grunkle Stan didn't protest them walking in the forest, only asking them not to bring any animals or cops back.

Mabel already had a hand full of flowers, but seemingly not enough for her. Every few minutes she gushed about a new type of wild flower she just found, and asking Dipper if he could identify it. When he knew, he started to rambling about the name and details of it's species. And when he didn't, he just looked ashamed for a moment and was silent.

They did already wander deeper in the forest like they usually did. The vegetation began to get more sparsely and the ground to get more rocky while they walked uphill.

"Want to play I spy with my little eye?" Mabel asked, humming a song while she surveyed their surroundings. "Mabel, I don't want to-"

"I spy with my little eye something...green." Dipper just groaned and ducked under a branch. "Let me take a guess" he said, without even taking a look around "it's a leaf."

"You're right!" she burst out, "Yaaay! Now it's your turn, bro-bro." He just sighed and took a look around, scanning his environment. The ground somehow looked darker than before and the grass was growing more sparsely, in single blotches instead of a thick carpet.

"Mabel, can we please not." He tried to keep a serious tone and face, but couldn't hold when he saw his sister sticking flowers into her hair, so he closed his eyes.

"That's no fun, you must keep your eyes open. You never know what you might find. Look, I spy with my little eye something...rainbow?" Mabel's voice was suddenly filled with confusion.

Dipper immediately reacted when he noticed that something was off with his sister. He opened his eyes and watched her make her way through a bush. "Mabel, be careful" he shouted worried while he hurried at her side, thorns tearing at his vest.

"Don't worry, look what I just found" she said and picked something up. Dipper came closer to investigate it, ignoring the thorns and the question how her sweater got undamaged through that thicket.

She hold something up that looked like a yellow-brownish scale, but the sunlight refracted at it, making a rainbow shimmering over it. "Oh, it's so beautiful! I'm gonna keep it for my scrapbook!" Mabel said, jumping happily up and down.

Dipper grabbed it and inspected it closely. "But what is it? It seems to come from a reptile, but I don't know any reptile that lives in Oregon that has scales like that." It was as long as his finger and about twice as wide. He hold it against the sunlight, looking at the reflections.

There was suddenly a deep growl, more of a buzzing that you felt with your body than you really heard. "What was that?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "The voices in your head." Mabel chirped to answer him. He just gave her a glare before he closed the eyes, trying to locate the source, but it was in vain. It had vanished as fast as it appeared.

He sighed and hold the scale out where he expected Mabel to be. "Maybe we should head back home. I don't know what's out there, and this part of the forest is definitely creepy. And I don't have the journals with me, great uncle Ford needed them for his work." He made a small pause, before he thought of something to convince her. "Hey, at least we got a souvenir and we can ask great uncle Ford about it."

He opened his eyes, startled that Mabel wasn't there where he thought she was. Instead she was scouring in a bush, with Dipper only seeing spots of her white sweater through the green. "Found another one!" she triumphantly exclaimed while she hold another of the scales up in the air, a ray of light breaking on it. Dipper opened his mouth, but was interrupted by Mabel again screaming. "Look at this, Dipper!" She pointed somewhere behind the bushes, before she disappeared in the green leaves.

Dipper got closer, trying to see what she discovered. He made his way through the thicket. _Holy Moses, how does her sweater doesn't get reduced into a tangle of yarn here?_ As he came out on the other side, he looked on Mabel and was shocked.

His sister was standing on a patch of churned earth. Dipper wrinkled his brows, while he investigated what clue Mabel found there. "Look, there are more over there! We found a trail!" she exclaimed proudly. "You're right...", Dipper said absent-mindedly, while took a closer look at the ground, handing her the scale he hold.

"And you wanted to go back to Ford, bro-bro." His sister said, forming a mischievous smile. "Giving up so easily? Just imagine what the author of the journals would say about that?" She teased him. He gave her just a glare and sighed then, relaxing. "Okay, let's go find what lies at the end of this trail!"

"That's what I wanted to hear, Detective Dippingsauce!" she happily obliged and started following the marks in the earth, while Dipper took a closer look at everyone of them. "Don't walk too far ahead." He said, while he tried to deduce some information from the marks his sister found.

It seemed like whatever caused them had big claws. That wasn't a big surprise, if that being was indeed a reptile. But some of the marks were... _odd._ The earth seemed moved by something that had a clear source of origin and distributed it's energy uniformly, like a shock wave.

He tried to make sense of that, but he had no idea. Did the feet of the being crash so hard on the ground that it created a shock wave? Was that the deep growl they heard? He sighed and tried to catch up to Mabel. She went ahead and he didn't want her to stumble on whatever was this alone.

"Mabel, wait for me." He called out. He saw her again kneeling in front of a tree, looking behind it. "Come on, that scales aren't gonna run away." But she didn't react, she just stood there.

Noticing that something was off, he rushed to her side, worried about what she saw. He carefully made it to her side, cautious not to startle her or whatever she might be looking at. As he reached her, she gave him a quick look, before she silently pointed at the cause of her marvel.

Dipper had been right that it was a reptile, and he was sure that there was nothing like that in Oregon, and probably the entire World. Well, except for in Gravity Falls, of course.

It resembled a monitor lizard, but was several times larger than the biggest one Dipper had ever seen. But there was a big, spiny crest on it's back. While the rest of it's body had the same yellow-brownish tone like the scales the twins had found, the crest was fiery red. He wasn't very keen to see how aggressive it was. In these woods everything could be dangerous.

"It's beautiful!" his sister whispered. And he had to admit, there was a certain grace to that creature. Currently it was laying down on a big rock, letting the sun shine on it's back, where it basically emitted a rainbow over itself. She started making her way silently around the tree. "Do you think it's friendly?"

"Mabel! Let's not scare it!" Dipper hissed to his sister. He was worried that she would trigger a fight-or-flight-response for that lizard, and in Gravity Falls he couldn't even count on the flight response being safe for them.

"Don't worry, Dipper! I'm sure it's just a big cuddly lizard!" Mabel chirped but Dipper laid his hand on her shoulder, holding her back. Which may have been for the best, because something else seemed to startle that lizard.

There was again a growling, but different from the one they heard before, not as loud and more in the audible spectrum, and there was certainly no doubt that the lizard was responsible for that. The crest stood up on it's back, glowing like magma that just broke out of the earth. Dipper heard his sister gasping because of that breathtaking spectacle they just saw. He had to admit that it wasn't something you saw everyday.

And then it happened.

And then, another deep growl, like the one they heard before. Dipper felt his body shaking, but he didn't even notice it really because he was more focused on what his eyes where seeing.

A yellow flash of lightning shot from the lizard's maw and hit something in the woods, obscured for the twins by the vegetation. But they still saw dirt and splintered woods flying around. Now they knew what the cause of these growls was, and it was better not to make this lizard feels threatened.

Mabel shrieked of fear and surprise and Dipper felt her hands clinging on his shoulder. He grabbed her, both to calm her down and to reassure himself that she was there and safe. He was slowly pulling her away, both of them looking shocked at that dangerous being. It didn't seem to notice them or at least didn't saw them as a threat. It's crest was already deflating, and Dipper was happy about that, now only thinking about getting his sister to safety.

Everything was fine, they were taking slow steps back and Dipper noticed he had hold his breath. He already exhaled in relief as he noticed the lizard's crest standing up again. He didn't even wait to see what if they were the cause of that or not.

Dipper just screamed "Run!" and pushed his sister downhill the way they came from. They first heard the quieter growl, and then they both heard the deeper growl, or better said, felt the deep growl in their bodies. The tree they hid behind them fell as it's trunk got obliterated. Hot splinters shot in all directions and a loud creaking announced the falling tree. With a diving jump Dipper pushed both himself and his sister out of the way.

With a shattering sound the tree crashed behind them on the ground while they fell to the ground. But there was no time to waste, as they already heard another of that growls that preceded every of these lightning strikes. Mabel was faster in standing up and pulled on Dipper's arm, heaving him on his feet and they started running again.

Dipper didn't dare to even glance behind him, focusing solely on the path before him, but he already had seen the lizard attacking twice and out of pure reflex when it was again time for another strike he again pushed his sister away and threw himself both in front of her and hopefully out of the way of the lightning.

He was right, where they stood a mere moment ago was hit by a lightning and they both were shocked by it's thunder. Dipper could feel the shock wave painfully rumbling through his body, and the sensation of hot air blowing over them. He just hoped that Mabel wasn't hit by whatever that beast shot at them.

They were tumbling downhill, rolling over each other. The twins hold onto each other, out of pure reflex to protect each other. While it was very painful rolling a hill down, it at least brought them away from the danger.

When they reached the end of the hill, Dipper was landing on Mabel, a pain surging through his stomach. The flowers she had collected were flying around them like floral confetti.

He was rubbing his head. "Ugh, Mabel, you're okay?" He blinked several times, trying to get the dirt out of his eyes as he heard it.

"D-d-dipper." Mabel's voice was trembling with shock and fear. All pain and discomfort was quickly forgotten. He looked at her, her eyes going wide as like they wanted to leave her head. She looked down on herself and then Dipper saw what caused that reaction.

He felt his guts twisting as he looked on that. "No, no no nonono." he breathlessly stammered as like he couldn't accept that as reality. The white lamb on her sweater was coloured red. "Mabel..." he said, looking for words, his head empty of any thoughts.

"D-dipper, please." She said again, her voice now filling with concern. "D-don't worry." He said, trying to calm her down. "We can take care of that, everything's going to be fine."

"But..." she tried to grab him and threw him off. "It's not okay! It's not okay!" she started to frantically scream.

"Mabel, calm down!" he screamed back, trying to pin her down. He better should follow his own advice because his own voice was shacking with fear and pain. He tried to grab her wrists and pin her down, because she started to frantically flail around, and might hurt herself with that.

"Don't move, you're just gonna make it worse. I take care of you." He felt his limbs go numb, he didn't know what he could do. Just the thought of the red blood on her sweater filled him with dread.

"NO!" she screamed again. She wrestled her arms free. "No, you don't understand. Dipper!" Her eyes felt with tears and her voice with desperation. It hurt his heart to see his sister like that.

"Mabel, calm down. You're injured, you just need to calm down!" She overpowered him, she was just stronger than him and grabbed both his wrists, shoving him off her. She pinned him down on the ground, with more force than was necessary. He felt a sudden surge of pain in his back, he inhaled sharply the cold air.

His face distorted in confusion as he tried to comprehend what was going on, while Mabel was now lying on top of him. Her tears was trickling down on his face. "Please Dipper, let me help you."

Dipper looked down on himself, and the reality dawned on him. There was blood on her sweater, but it wasn't hers.

It was his.

He was right that he was in front of her when the lightning struck.

He successfully protected her from harm.

His shirt was ripped, and what was down there was a mess.

He didn't even want to look down there, because just a simple glance made his heart racing. He already felt the cold spreading through his body, now with the adrenaline subsiding. Mabel was screaming at him, grabbing his shoulders, but he didn't understand her. His head was getting cloudy and he felt his vision fading.

He tried to focus his thoughts, but it was a losing battle. A last moment of clarity allowed him to see one of the flower's Mabel collected lying beside him and hear the last words "Dipper, please, don't leave me, please..." before the darkness got him...


	2. Chapter 2

Mabel tried to compose herself, but she couldn't. Tears cleaned the dirt from her cheeks, but she couldn't focus. She was sobbing while she called out to her brother. "D-dipper, please." She blubbered out while she tried to wake her brother up.

But he just remained lying there. She covered her eyes with her hands. What could she do? What? She had no idea of first aid.

She tried to think of a way to save her brother, but she had no idea! He was dying. Or maybe even already dead...

The pure thought sent shivers down her spine and her hands were shacking. She extended one of them to Dipper's throat, trying to check for a pulse like they always did that in the movies. Her hands stopped mere inches before that. She feared the truth, feared that it was already too late.

Her hand was still shacking, but she was sure she could feel a pulse. Dipper was still alive, he was only unconscious. A surge of relief flooded through her.

That was good. But now she had to save him. She tried to think of what she could do.

Wait here for help to come. They always said when you are lost, you should stay where you are. First rule of survival. But no one knew where they were. Grunkle Stan did, but the forest was big, and when the grunkles finally found them, it could be too late.

That was all her fault, if she never wanted to investigate that scales and the trail in the first place! That had been a bad idea! When even Dipper wanted to go back, she should have known that it was too dangerous!

And now that killed her brother. She shivered again and started sobbing, burying her face in her hands. She killed her brother.

 _Calm down, girl._ A voice in her head said, sounding like Dipper. _He's your brother and he needs you. You won't fail him now._ It was her voice of reason.

She slowly exhaled. He was her brother, and his fate lied in her hands. She wouldn't disappoint him. She had to save him.

Mabel racked her brain what was the best course of option. She had to stop the bleeding fast, but with what? Would her sweater do the trick? And then she needed to get him back to the Mystery Shack as soon as possible, but how? She could carry him, she knew that. Several times she had to carry him to his bed when he fell asleep again reading or watching one of his ghost-hunting shows.

But was that really a good idea? Dipper talked about making it only worse, and moving him now in his state could be a bad idea. She definitely didn't want to harm him further. So slinging him on her shoulder and just carrying him back was out of the question.

If she just was as clever as Dipper. He probably knew a medicine book by heart and would have figured out a dozen ways to get her safely out with that big brain of his. What could she do, how did knitting and glitter, arts and crafts save her brother?

"Grunkle Stan!" was a far cry in the forest. Stan Pines was currently sitting in his favourite armchair and enjoying the greatest quality Gravity Falls Television could offer with a Pitt cola in his hand. Which meant he was staring at a blank matt screen.

He furrowed his eyebrows because he thought he heard something. He fumbled at his hearing aid, trying to think if he just imagined that or if he really heard that. Did Ford call him from basement? Had the world nerdiest old man blown himself up _again_?

Then he heard it again. "Grunkle Stan"!. But it wasn't what he heard in words, but more the pitch of the voice. He was out of the door before his soda even hit the ground.

And what he saw out there nearly caused him a heart attack. He didn't know what was more painful to see, Mabel's face, drowned in tear, and radiating distress and sorrow or what caused that condition. She was only wearing her shirt, not one of her usual bright coloured sweaters, stained with dirt with twigs and flowers standing out of her hair.

Behind her was some kind of improvised sleigh. Stan needed a moment to realize that it was made from her sweater and wood. The white wool now crimson with blood.

On it was lying Dipper, looking deathly pale.

His shirt was in tatters. He didn't wear his vest, but it was instead draped around his stomach. The dark blue almost turned into black by his blood.

"G-grunkle Stan.!" She called out, new tears trickling down her face. "D-di-dipper!" she stuttered before she fell to ground, sobbing uncontrollably. She was exhausted, both mentally and physically.

Stan looked at her stunned, his mind empty, before his parental instincts kicked in. He kneeled in front of Mabel, lying his hand on her shoulder and tried to speek as softly and calm as he could to her. "Don't worry, sweetie. He's gonna fine, we will fix him." His voice still betrayed him.

Without another moment of hesitation, because every single second now was precious, he picked up the sweater-sleigh and ran as fast as he could without moving Dipper to much back to the Shack.

He started shouting from the top of his lungs for his brother. If anyone knew how to fix such injuries, it's gonna be that nerd. He wasn't that kind of doctor, but he may still have picked up something useful up in that thirty years. He felt a pang of guilt thinking about under which circumstances Ford could have picked up these skills, but he didn't dwell too long on that. His mind was on other things.

When he reached the vending machine was already opening while Ford's voice reached him.

"What is it now, Stanley? I already told you my work is important, and I don't want to be interrupted for trivial things!" His voice angry, like he was annoyed that his brother is going to pester him with little problems while he had so much more important stuff to do.

Stan felt the sudden urge to punch his brother, but Ford couldn't know and it vanished when Ford came around the vending machine.

Ford's face went through a plethora of different emotions in just a few seconds as he saw why Stan disturbed his work in the lab.

The anger he wore vanished so fast that Stan wouldn't be sure it was there if he hadn't heard his voice prior. Confusion spread over his face while Ford processed what was going on. That was quickly replaced by the dawning realization of what was Stan holding there, the shock and horror.

He was already turning back to the corridor behind the vending machine when his expression turned into concern.

"Ford!" Stan yelled, unbelievable that his brother just went back to his lab!

"I'm preparing everything! There's no time to lose!" His voice wasn't shaky at all, and he seemed to show no emotion, just a grim determination.

Stan just followed him. "You're gonna help him, do you?"

He looked down at Dipper. His blood was already soaking through and coloured Stan's undershirt. The boy was pale and Stan felt that he was already very cold, and Stan just saw how barely his chest moved when he breathed.

"I'm gonna do everything I can." He opened the elevator.

"Can you take him?" Stan asked. "I need to look after his sister, she is freaking out."

Ford just took the improvised stretcher, his face showed concern, looking down at his nephew. "Who wouldn't..." he murmured before he closed the door.

Mabel had buried her face on the carpet in the living room. Stan had tried to distract her with television, but it had no effect. She was just constantly sobbing that Stan feared she would dehydrate herself.

"It's all my fault." She cried again, and Stan just patted her on her shoulder.

"No, it isn't." He tried his best to remain as calm as possible, but he was afraid that he didn't sound as reassuring as he wished.

"Yes, it is!" she screamed against the carpet, her voice sounding hoarse. "If I didn't want to collect these stupid flowers, my brother wouldn't be d-d-d." She couldn't even finish the word without her voice breaking down and a new wave of sobs erupting.

"No, it isn't." Stan just repeated. He didn't know what to say, but he could understand her. Making a mistake that took away your brother? That was something he knew too well.

He tried to think of something to cheer her up, and got an idea. At least that was something that brought back some familiarity back. He swept the shack for until he found one of them.

"Sweetie, look. You're under shock and you need some warmth. Take this." He hold a sweater to her that he just found lying somewhere. It was a pink one with a yellow horse on it.

She didn't answer, just lying there quietly.

Stan just sighed "Please, Mabel. Do it for me." A short sob answered him. Stan didn't know how long he could take this scene anymore. It was breaking his heart to see her like this. And he didn't even dare to imagine what Dipper was currently going through. _Save him, Sixer. Please, just save him._

He started walking around the Shack, not being able to hold still. He tried to get his mind on other things, but he found that hard. He tried to keep Mabel always in line of sight, just in case she needed him but that didn't make him feel better.

And whenever he left her out of his eyes, his mind wandered back to the moment he saw her arriving at the shack. And the moment he saw Dipper lying there, pale as corpse with the bloodied bandage around his belly.

Time passed and he couldn't tell how much. Not that he actually wanted, but he got the feeling that time stood still and every agonizing second was creeping long like an eternity. He didn't know how he could keep himself busy. Sorting the Gift Shop or building some new attractions just seemed so pointless to him. He wanted to distract himself, but he couldn't stop thinking of his grandnephew- and niece. Of the bundle Mabel dragged through the forest...

 _Time is dead and meaning has no meaning!_ shot through his head and he didn't know why. That wasn't important now.

When he took another look at Mabel, he was relieved that she actually dressed herself in the sweater. He was less relieved that she retreated in the sweater her legs and head pulled inside with just her hair sticking out of the top.

He saw that as a progress, kind off. She at least moved. But he still could hear her cry from inside.

He kneeled in front of her and stroke the hair tentatively. "Mabel?" He asked cautious.

"Mabel's not here. Sweatertown is currently holding a memorial service." Stan got the feeling that the sobs echoed inside the sweater. It was imaginary, but it still scared him.

"Mabel, cut it out!" He said, harsher than he intended, but he couldn't bear that any second longer.

The sobs stopped for a moment, maybe just from the surprise.

"Mabel, sweetie. Your brother will be fine. You know Dipper, you know he's tough when he has to but first and foremost you know that he would never leave you alone."

The crying stopped, and he heard a few sobs before it got quiet. Then a faint voice answered from the sweater. "You think so?"

Stan felt a pang of relief, but he had to seize the opportunity before she again got overwhelmed by her grief.

"We're talking here about Dipper. He never would abandon you, he would never leave you like that and he wouldn't let anything stop him, no matter what happens."

"Y-you're right." Her voice was shaking but her head rose from the neck of her sweater. Her face was still wet from her tears, but at least for a moment there were no new ones coming.

Stan used his sleeve and dried her face. "See, everything's a bit better now, right?"

She nodded and used her own sleeve to dry her face. "But what should I do now? I n-nearly killed him."

Stan just sighed, thinking what he could say that would allow her to be more happy with what happened, he got some experience in such situations.

"You screwed up. That's no problem, we all do, from time to time.." Stan said and his hand unconsciously wandered to the burn on his shoulder.

Mabel just nodded, her eyes red from crying but finally there was finally a glimmer of relief. Stan couldn't other than to let a small smile on his face.

He expanded further on it. "But when you screw up, you have to make up for it. Learn from it and do better the next time. First thing you do when Ford is finished with him is you apologize."

She nodded again, but suddenly the glimmer of relief vanished from her eyes and her face distorted in fear. "But what is...what is if he won't forgive me?" Her voice was just barely above a whisper but Stan could still feel the pain in it.

Though they both knew that was bollocks, Stan had to address it anyway. He knew too well that in despair any dark thought may sprout, no matter how unlikely they were.

"That doesn't matter." Stan said. Maybe these weren't the words she wanted to hear, or the words that were the best, but it were the words Stan had.

"You fu- you made a mistake and now you're gonna make good. It doesn't matter if he forgives you right away, or if it takes time."

Mabel just looked at him, with her big puppy eyes. Trying to comprehend what he just said.

"You can't undo your mistakes. That's the hard truth. Nothing you do will simply make these mistakes disappear, so now you have to live with them." Stan's hand clenched into a fist when he said that.

"But what..." Mabel started, her voice wavering but Stan just continued, closing his eyes.

"You have to live with it. You can only do your best, try to atone for what you've done and hope that one day you will be forgiven. Because forgiveness is not something that you earn, it's something that is given."

His hand relaxed and he took a deep breath. For a moment he closes his eyes and thought. _You should better follow your own advice, Stan._

Mabel just looked at him, eyes red and her look was a mixture of confusion, fear and understanding.

Stan thought that he made it worse. Of course, that were the wrong words to say, he shouldn't try to project himself on the kids like he already did with Dipper.

But to his surprise Mabel just nodded.

He blinked bewildered. He didn't knew if he actually said the right thing, if Mabel understood what he was actually talking about or if she simply needed some encouraging words to dispel any dark thoughts that could come up.

She finally pulled her legs out of her sweater and Stan used the opportunity and hugged his grandniece. She murmured "Thanks, grunkle Stan." A smile shot over Stan's face.

That's when they both heard the vending machine sliding open, and steps coming from the gift shop.

With dreadful anticipation they watched his brother entering the room. His trenchcoat was sprinkled with blood, and Stan felt something twist in his guts when he saw that. Ford looked exhausted how he walked to them slowly.

"There you are." he just said feeble.

"Dipper?" were the only words Mabel could produce, her eyes fixed on the man in front of her.

Ford just sighed tired, and kneeled in front of Mabel, looking from eye to eye. Stan just watched his brother, and he could only imagine what that girl would feel in this deciding moment.

"I'll make it short." Ford started. "Dipper is..."

That was all he could say before he was interrupted. Mabel couldn't hold it, because she knew, _knew,_ what the next word would be.

Every bit of the encouragement was forgotten, and she started screaming and crying. She threw herself on the ground, because she couldn't even sit upright anymore. Stan just registered that barely.

Instead he felt a cold spreading through his body while he digested what Mabel got so fast. He knew that cold, but he only felt it once before...

"Mabel!" Ford yelled at the girl and grabbed her shoulders. Both she and Stan were startled by the sudden volume Ford put out. Before anyone could say anything, Ford pressed three words out.

"Dipper. Is. Fine!"

Mabel just stared at him, speechless while the new realization took in. "What...?"

Ford sighed again and rubbed his forehead. "Dipper is fine, he's gonna make it."

Mabel just dove at Ford, hugging him, burying her face in his sweater and probably smearing blood over her sweater. But Ford simply gently patted her head, looking glad that she had calmed down.

"Couldn't you break the news to us better, without making us think the worst!" Stan just snapped , but he felt no anger. Instead a feeling of joy took in.

"Sorry." Ford just rubbed his eyes. "It's been draining, but I tried my best." Ford just sat down, beside them. He looked in as bad a shape as Mabel. How he must felt, the pressure from trying to save his nephew's life with his hands in his guts.

"It's okay, Sixer." Stan said and Ford gave him a thankful look. "Don't worry, the boy is tough."

"Yes, he will need a few days of rest, but it was mostly a superficial wound. The blood loss was the worst. He might be lightheaded for a while, but in a week or so, he's gonna be back on his legs. But you're better not make him work in the shop for that time." Ford said, his tone getting sharper with the last sentence.

Stan made a face. "Really, that boy is probably cost a small fortune on medical supplies, so he could at least help with some of the bills..." He trailed off after Ford shot him a glare while he was actually thinking if he should shelter the boy in the attic with his sister or make an improvised bed here in the living room, where he had the TV to distract him and Ford, Wendy and Soos could better supervise the boy.

"You want to see your brother?" Ford simply asked Mabel, ignoring Stan's greed. Mabel's face emerged from the sweater of her grunkle. Stan could see that she was crying again, but this time the tears we're not from pain or fear.

"Of course!" She made basically an 180 degree turn and was now beaming with happiness. Ford simply picked her up and the three went to his lab.

When they exited the lift, the smell of copper and medicine hit them. The room was sparely lit and Stan was asking himself how Ford could operate under this conditions.

They saw Dipper laid out on a makeshift operating table, with medical supplies and equipment littered around there. A white blanket, thankfully not stained with blood was covering the boy, while he was lying there.

The three got closer slowly, and Dipper moved his head a little in their direction, showing that he was awake.

"Hey, bro-bro." Mabel began, her voice almost sounding embarrassed. "Sorry for what happened. But I'm gonna make you the best 'Get well, soon!' card ever!"

Dipper just mustered a smile and said: "Don't worry, Mabel. Hope you kept some of the flowers for that."

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End file.
